Polygamist Kody Brown, seen here in an early photo with his three wives and their children, is courting a fourth woman to add to his growing brood.
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September 24, 2010

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With programming like Jon & Kate Plus 8 and 19 Kids & Counting, TLC has already cultivated a niche portraying particularly large families. Its latest reality show, Sister Wives, takes things a step further, delving into the day-to-day dynamics of a family of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists. Do Kody Brown, his three wives, and 13 children offer us legitimate justification for "rethinking" traditional marriage, as TLC claims, or is the network prettifying something that ought to disturb us?

Remember, these people are extremists: "It's interesting how, in a time of growing Islamophobia, this religious fundamentalism is fun prime-time entertainment," says Dodai Stewart at Jezebel. But as you become familiar with these "smiley, American, white people," don't lose sight of the fact that their repugnant belief system is deeply "belittling and oppressive" to women."'Sister Wives' talk like soul-sucking Stepford zombies"